1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a cooling package for use in an agricultural combine, more particularly it relates to sealing, mounting and connection of a radiator and charge air cooler in a cooling package.
2. Description of the Related Art
An agricultural combine often is powered by a turbocharged diesel engine requiring a cooling package which may include a radiator and a charge air cooler. In order to be adequately stocked to build cooling packages for combines, manufacturers have purchased radiators and charge air coolers and maintained inventories of these components. In assembling each cooling package, the manufacturer has mounted a radiator and a charge air cooler into a large frame. For ease of manufacture, the frame typically has been substantially larger than the combined dimensions of the components, resulting in physical gaps between components and gaps between each component and the frame. A problem with existing cooling packages is that there has not been a tight seal between the components themselves and there has not been a tight seal between each component and the frame. Instead of tight seals, there have been physical gaps between components and gaps between each component and the frame. Each gap is tantamount to an air leak path, permitting environmental air to bypass the cooling core of the radiator and the cooling core of the charge air cooler, thereby decreasing the efficiency of the cooling package and each of its components. The problem of gaps is exacerbated by fouling of the cooling cores caused by hot, dusty, chaff-laden conditions typical in the environment around agricultural harvest combines. As the cores become fouled through use, a larger proportion of the environmental air passes through the unintended and undesirable gaps which offer relatively less resistance to air flow than the fouled cores.
The cooling package circulates air from the environment through heat exchanger cores in the radiator and the charge air cooler. The radiator""s purpose is to reject heat from an engine cooling fluid, usually a mixture of water and ethylene glycol, into the circulated environmental air to cool the engine and other moving parts. The charge air cooler""s purpose is to improve the overall efficiency of the engine by improving the performance of a turbocharger within the engine. A turbocharger compresses air that is sent to cylinders of the engine, however, an undesired outcome of this compression is that the air is heated as it is compressed, sometimes to as hot as 250xc2x0 C. Because hot air is less dense than cool air, it is advantageous to cool this air, allowing air to be fed to the cylinders at a more optimized air to fuel ratio. Cooling of this air is accomplished in the charge air cooler, where air temperature can be lowered from 250xc2x0 C. to 80xc2x0 C. or lower.
However, the environment of a combine poses an unusually severe problem as compared to other work machines. Any air that bypasses the cores of the radiator and charge air cooler is unavailable to cool the radiator fluid or the compressed air. This problem reduces the heat transfer efficiency of the radiator and charge air cooler which can lead to engine overheating or loss of power.
Previously on combines, the radiator and the charge air cooler have been placed into a cooling package frame so that gaps were formed between these components and between each component and the frame. Efforts have been made to stuff pieces of foam or other packing into these gaps in an attempt to prevent the passage of air, dust and chaff through the gaps. Foam has not been cut precisely for the cooling package, and irregular pieces have stuffed into the gaps of the cooling package. Foam as thick as one to two inches and as wide as 4 inches or more has been used. Either a worker installing the packing had to be unusually attentive and thorough, or the gaps were not completely filled. Thus, existing cooling packages have failed to seal the gaps formed between the components and between each component and the frame, and problems arose when packing wore away, fell out, decomposed due to heat, humidity or the formation of particulates, or if a leak path formed through the packing.
Efforts have been made to mount a radiator into a frame to create a seal around the outer perimeter of the radiator as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,298,906, but this does not address the problem of sealing a radiator and charge air cooler in combination.
Therefore, what is needed is a cooling package with a tight seal between the radiator and the charge air cooler, and a tight seal between each of these components and the frame of the cooling package, so that there are no gaps for the air to pass through.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooling package for a combine, including a subassembly of a radiator and a charge air cooler, wherein the subassembly has a face with a perimeter.
It is another object of the present invention to form a seal between the radiator and the charge air cooler
Another object of the invention is to form a seal around the perimeter of the face of the subassembly so that the air that passes into the cooling package will only be able to follow a path through the cores, not around the cores or through leak paths.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide a cooling package for a combine. The main components of the cooling package are a radiator and a charge air cooler, which are connected side by side creating a subassembly having a face with a perimeter. A subassembly seal is formed along the connected sides of the radiator and the charge air cooler. The subassembly seal is intended to eliminate leak paths between the radiator and the charge air cooler. The subassembly is mounted into an opening within a frame. The frame has an inwardly extending flange that the perimeter of the face of the subassembly is abutted against. The flange provides a perimeter seal around the perimeter of the subassembly face so that no leak paths exist around the subassembly.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the radiator and the charge air cooler have lips that extend from the sides to be connected. The lips are bolted together to form the subassembly seal between the sides of the radiator and the charge air cooler, which form the subassembly. In the preferred embodiment, foam tape is placed on the flange to ensure the formation of the perimeter seal around the subassembly face. The subassembly is bolted into the frame to form the cooling package.